Downer

The Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) provides a state-approved form (DS 367A) for reporting chemical test results to the DMV when a police officer administratively suspends a licensee’s driving privilege pursuant to Vehicle Code section 13353.2 (driving with a blood-alcohol concentration (BAC) of 0.08 percent or more). This form, which the officer forwards to the forensics laboratory with the blood or urine sample, requires the forensic analyst to execute a certification under penalty of perjury as to the test results. Completion of the certification provides a proper foundation for use of the report at the DMV administrative hearing.

Relying on a chemical test report prepared by the Orange County Sheriff-Coroner Department crime laboratory, the DMV suspended John Michael Downer’s driving privilege. The superior court found the report was neither sworn nor dated and therefore lacked the indicia of trustworthiness to support the administrative finding Downer had a BAC of 0.08 percent or more. Accordingly, the court granted a writ of mandate commanding the DMV to set aside its decision suspending Downer’s driving privilege. We affirm.

I

On August 11, 1993, about 9:30…